STATE OF NEW JERSEY
221st LEGISLATURE
PRE-FILED FOR INTRODUCTION IN THE 2024 SESSION
Sponsored by:
Senator CARMEN F. AMATO, JR.
District 9 (Ocean)
SYNOPSIS
Requires certification that persons directly or indirectly receiving State monies or privileges are not unauthorized aliens.
CURRENT VERSION OF TEXT
Introduced Pending Technical Review by Legislative Counsel.
An Act requiring certain certification to verify employment eligibility of individuals and supplementing Title 52 of the Revised Statutes.
Be It Enacted by the Senate and General Assembly of the State of New Jersey:
1. a. The Legislature finds and declares that the privileges and benefits of residing or working in the State of New Jersey are reserved for citizens of the United States and those persons whose presence in the United States is authorized by federal law and that the State government should make an effort to ensure that unauthorized aliens do not receive any privileges and benefits accorded by the State government.
b. Notwithstanding any law, rule, or regulation to the contrary, no person shall receive from the State of New Jersey a contract, loan, tax deferral, tax reduction, tax abatement, grant, subsidy, loan guarantee, certification, or license unless that person shall certify that the person’s presence in the United States is authorized under federal law, or if the person is an employer, that the person has made a good faith effort to verify all employees’ eligibility for employment in the United States in compliance with federal law.
The Department of Labor shall prepare and make available to every principal department in the Executive Branch of State government and any division, board, bureau, office, commission or other instrumentality within or created by a principal department and any independent State authority, commission, instrumentality or agency a form that shall state that the signatory as an individual certifies that the signatory’s presence in the United States is authorized under federal law and in the case of a signatory who shall receive from the State monies, licensure or any other benefit as an employer, that the signatory certifies that a good faith effort has been made to verify all employees’ eligibility for employment in the United States in compliance with federal law. The form shall contain the following statement:
“I certify that all the above statements are true, that I am aware that State law provides a penalty for written statements that are knowingly and willfully false and that the State of New Jersey reserves the right to terminate, cancel, rescind or revoke any privilege or benefit granted by the State based upon the above statements should any of them prove knowingly and willfully false.”
The Department of Labor shall append a notice to the form stating that every principal department, and every division, board, bureau, office, commission or other instrumentality within or created by a principal department, and every independent State authority, commission, instrumentality or agency shall make every effort to incorporate the language of the form into each contract; loan application; tax deferral, reduction, or abatement application; or application for a grant, subsidy, loan guarantee, certification, or license. It is the intent of the Legislature to incorporate the certification requirements of this section into the existing procedures of each agency rather than to establish a separate certification filing system.
Notwithstanding any other provisions of this section to the contrary, nothing in this section shall be construed to prohibit any agency from exhausting existing stocks of applications or forms.
2. This act shall take effect immediately.
STATEMENT
This bill provides that no person will receive a contract, loan, tax deferral, tax reduction, tax abatement, grant, subsidy, loan guarantee, certification, or license from the State unless that person has certified that his or her presence in the United States is authorized under federal law; or if the person is an employer receiving monies, licensure or any other benefit from the State, that the employer made a good faith effort to verify an employee’s eligibility for employment in compliance with federal law. A penalty would apply only for “knowingly and willfully” false statements.
The bill requires the New Jersey Department of Labor to prepare and make available to all State agencies a form which requires signatories, as individuals and as employers, to indicate compliance with federal law with regard to unauthorized aliens. The form will contain the following statement:
“I certify that all the above statements are true, that I am aware that State law provides a penalty for written statements that are knowingly and willfully false and that the State of New Jersey reserves the right to terminate, cancel, rescind or revoke any privilege or benefit granted by the State based upon the above statements should any of them prove knowingly and willfully false.”
The bill states that the intent is to have each State agency incorporate the language of the form into existing documents and procedures rather than establish a separate certification filing system.